Castle Story (Preview)

Show of hands…how many of you used to build castles as a kid using Legos or the equivalent? Okay, how many of you used to pretend that your little Lego men would have to defend said castle from G.I. Joe, The Ghostbusters, or whatever action figures you happened to have out at the time? If you did in fact raise your hand, then you may enjoy “Castle Story”. In a nutshell, it’s a voxel-based strategy game that tasks you with building a castle for your army of bricktrons.

At present, the game features two modes: survival and sandbox. While there is multiplayer, reports indicate that it is extremely buggy and unreliable. The world editor, a selection on the main menu, is grayed out altogether. Still, it’s exciting to see that these are planned features as I’m sure there are a lot of folks out there who’d love the chance to team up against the onslaught. Speaking of which, survival mode doesn’t hold back any punches. It’ll throw you onto a map with nothing but a few bricktrons, complete with a ticking clock that’ll spawn waves of enemies when it expires. It’s a scramble from the very beginning to collect resources (stone, wood, and crystals) in order to construct some type of structure. Sandbox is a bit more tame, doing away with bad guys altogether and allowing you time to practice moving around the interface.

The game is still very early Alpha, meaning that it is far from done…at present, there’s not even a tutorial in which to get your feet wet. Still, there’s enough going on to at least get a feel of what you’ll be doing, if you decide to buy into the Alpha via Steam’s Early Access. I’ll be honest…there is a bit of a learning curve. With the tutorial being out of the picture (as of 1/15/14), I found myself scratching my head often. If you’re someone who isn’t easily frustrated and are used to the bugs and gameplay changes that come with Alphas and Betas however, you may find the experience to be a positive one. As for me, I’m enjoying what I’m seeing thus far and see a lot of potential here. Once the bugs are shored up and the tutorial in place, this could end up being an extremely fun and addicting game. Time, of course, will tell.